hi

i play the trombone in a ska band (www.myspace.com/hostileska) and i'm looking to buy a new trombone. want to spend quite a lot of money on it as we're recording an album soon so i want a big sound.

i read that the yamaha xeno models are the best around, though that was for orchestral playing. anyone played anything from the xeno series and know if they are any good for ska punk?

i know that buddy from less than jake (one of my favourite ska trombonists) plays a Getzen 1050, anyone have any experience playing one of those?

if anyone's got any other suggestions please let me know, any advise would be much appreciated!

cheers!

After listening to the soundclips on your myspace, I can't say I'd go any bigger than a .525 bore horn. Other than that, as far as brands, bell material, stuff like that, you'll have to try out as many horns as possible and get the one that works best for you. I use a sterling silver 3B, and I suspect that something like it would work well for your situation, but try stuff out. Are you near anywhere where you can try horns?

I play the Yamaha Xeno gold brass bell and I absolutely love it.I also have a King 3b gathering dust since I bought the Xeno!!Anyone who thinks that the Yamaha is only good at classical is talking through their mouthpiece!!I agree with Steve,try as many horns as you can,but with ska music,if you can get that nice fat raspy sound which is a great feature of so many late 70's early 80's British ska bands from a big horn then i think you should give the Yamaha a go.I use it for playing big band lead,salsa,soul and pit orchestra work,it's just so versatile.Hope that helps.

I personally prefer CG Conn trombones.
I have been using YAMAHA trombones, but not XENO, hear that it is quite expensive but have much better qualities. YAMAHA student models seemes to give a rather average playing experience, although the sound qualities are more stable than most of other brands e.g. Bach and King, they do not have outstanding areas.
My school band has a CG Conn 88H with gold brass bell, which is simply excellent. The tone is clear and the resistence through out the scale is much less than the YAMAHA trombones we use. The trombone has a big open sound that is rather good for solos.
Maybe you want to try one of the newer CG Conn trombones as from what I know they are quite popular troughout the world.